Not every young writer lives up to the promise of a first book, but Groff has exceeded expectations. 'Lauren Groff's first book was a wonder and a delight What a happy relief to discover Groff's second novel is even better. Groff's prose is one of the best things about 'Arcadia.' But it is by no means this book's only kind of splendor.'- Janet Maslin, The New York Times And a book that might have been small, dated and insular winds up feeling timeless and vast. ' has taken a quaint, easily caricatured community and given it true universality. 'It's not possible to write any better without showing off.' -Richard Russo, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Empire Falls In Arcadia, Groff displays her literary gifts to stunning effect. And eventually he must face the world beyond Arcadia. He falls in love with Helle, Handy's lovely, troubled daughter. While Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. Arcadia's inhabitants include Handy, the charismatic leader his wife, Astrid, a midwife Abe, a master carpenter Hannah, a baker and historian and Abe and Hannah's only child, Bit. Arcadia follows this romantic utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday. In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House.

'Even the most incidental details vibrate with life Arcadia wends a harrowing path back to a fragile, lovely place you can believe in.' -Ron Charles, The Washington Post But it is by no means this book's only kind of splendor.' -Janet Maslin, The New York Times Groff's prose is one of the best things about Arcadia. A staggering portrait of a crumbling utopia, this 'timeless and vast' novel filled with the 'raw beauty' beautifully depicts an idyllic commune in New York State - and charts its eventual yet inevitable downfall (Janet Maslin, The New York Times).

Arcadia groff review